Recently, some of Russia’s leading chemical fiber fabric manufacturers and members of the Russian Federation of Textile Light Industry Enterprises submitted two petitions to Russian Prime Minister Medvedev, requesting that the import tariff of Russian chemical fibers and textiles be reduced from the current 10 % increased to 20%.
According to manufacturers, anti-dumping investigations into chemical fibers and textiles imported into Russia and other countries in the Customs Union of Kazakhstan and Belarus are required, and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), as a permanent regulatory agency, is also involved. The manufacturer said in its official letter that due to Russia’s accession to the WTO, the amount of textiles and related fibers and yarns imported into Russia has increased significantly, causing serious losses to local manufacturers.
At the same time, the anti-dumping investigation requested by manufacturers has also attracted criticism from some local apparel and nonwovens manufacturers and related institutions. They believe that artificial restrictions on imports may have a negative impact on the development of related industries. For example, the official representative of the Russian Association of Nonwoven Producers (RANWP) believes that potential restrictions on imports will lead to a significant increase in domestic production, but at this stage, Russian manufacturers do not yet have the necessary capabilities to implement large-scale production, and The technical conditions of most enterprises in the industry are still very poor.
In addition, Russia’s nonwovens market is far from saturated, and increasing tariffs will lead to a decrease in supply in the domestic market.
The official representative of the EEC said: “In previous investigations, manufacturers requested protective measures for many types of synthetic fibers, some of which were product categories that were not produced at all by the members of the Customs Union. In this regard, in such It would be unfair to take protective measures under the circumstances, and it would also seriously violate some WTO regulations and rules. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the list of these chemical fibers and textiles that have seen a rapid increase in imports. If it will indeed threaten the clothing of Russia and other customs union countries and nonwovens production, EEC will start investigating after the list is completed.”
